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How can you tell if your fish are happy or not? I have a friend that kept an angelfish tank for 10 years with no loss. I know a lot of people in China that have successfully kept this kind of tank for more than 20 years.

Simply keeping fish in a tank isn't in and of itself considered "successful". How long do the fish you are talking about really live? I have had many of my fish for 11 years now. I'm pretty sure that if I had followed your stocking rules, they wouldn't have lasted longer than a year. None of your points address the issue of territoriality -- too many saltwater fish crammed into a small space tend to fight with each other, often til the death. No matter how good your water quality, you can't eliminate fish fighting with each other in an overstocked tank.

How am I a troll if thousands of people are doing this in China. I grew up in Hong Kong so I owned one of these tanks before and know a lot of people that do this.

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Let's not try and hold China up as a country to emulate when it comes to hobbies involving live animals, now. China has an abysmal record when it comes to its treatment of animals. Thousands of people may be doing this in China, but thousands of people in China also use live baby turtles as key chains, and replace them when they die after a few days.

You saying "people do this in China" in no way means that what they are doing is good for the animals, or good for the hobby. Intentionally overstocking a tank is cruel, and it doesn't matter how many Chinese believe otherwise.

Simply keeping fish in a tank isn't in and of itself considered "successful". How long do the fish you are talking about really live? I have had many of my fish for 11 years now. I'm pretty sure that if I had followed your stocking rules, they wouldn't have lasted longer than a year. None of your points address the issue of territoriality -- too many saltwater fish crammed into a small space tend to fight with each other, often til the death. No matter how good your water quality, you can't eliminate fish fighting with each other in an overstocked tank.

Let's not try and hold China up as a country to emulate when it comes to hobbies involving live animals, now. China has an abysmal record when it comes to its treatment of animals. Thousands of people may be doing this in China, but thousands of people in China also use live baby turtles as key chains, and replace them when they die after a few days.

You saying "people do this in China" in no way means that what they are doing is good for the animals, or good for the hobby. Intentionally overstocking a tank is cruel, and it doesn't matter how many Chinese believe otherwise.

The Angelfish community tank has been very successful thus far and is certainly an unforgettable sight, but I hasten to emphasize that it is very much an experimental aquarium system. Quite frankly, Travis and Aquatic Environments are pushing the limits of what's possible with a closed-system marine aquarium. In the process, they are breaking every rule in the book with regard to stocking densities, blithely ignoring all the recommendations regarding inches-of-fish-per-gallon, and blatantly violating every guide on the compatibility of marine fishes that has ever been devised. Mr. Carter can tempt fate this way and survive because he has all the resources and expert help he needs to do whatever is required to make his unorthodox system work.

In short, this is not a system the typical home hobbyist should attempt to emulate. But by the same token, if the basics of good aquarium management (maintaining optimum water quality, good nutrition, providing natural surroundings with plenty of cover, and disease prevention) can produce such phenomenal results under the extraordinary circumstances we have been discussing, then just think what a difference they could make for your humble home aquarium with a more reasonable stocking density of fish! It's the superior aquarium maintenance, feeding regimen, and disease prevention measures that Travis employs which other hobbyists should strive to duplicate.

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Long-term stability and success are the true goals of conscientious aquarists. We received some interesting feedback about Pete's article! As indicated in our Editors' note in the piece, we absolutely DO NOT recommend or condone this type of aquarium or the stocking practices demonstrated by the owner. WWM and Conscientious Aquarist have always been about the responsible husbandry and stewardship of aquatic life. However, this article was selected for inclusion in Conscientious Aquarist not to serve as an endorsement of these practices, or as "how to" guide for others to replicate the system. It was selected because we felt that sometimes, there is even a lesson to be learned from a bad example!

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Also, that tank was only set up for 8 months, that is a pathetically short amount of time. Not nearly long enough to be remotely considered a success.

Also they recommend lots of live rock, which is in direct conflict with what you first posted.

I see your 50 fish in a tiny tank and raise you 1 horse in a car. And the horse loves eating cows! Because that's perfectly natural for a horse....You see back before we domesticated them, horses were known as Saber Tooth Ponies. Very dangerous animals...

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